Stories for a better planet

Málaga, Spain

"The future of the forest is our future" according to Robles del Moral and Forests of the Earth

In 1993, concerned by the fact that almost half of Spain was suffering the effects of soil erosion – mostly due to human-induced deforestation – Robles del Moral embarked on an ambitious crusade to persuade his compatriots to become “forest rangers” by planting and caring for native trees. He persuaded INEC members to initiate the Forests of Spain campaign and to urge ministers, mayors, leaders of environmental organisations and local dignitaries across the country to join the cause.

Within three months of the Forests of Spain’s launch, a local coordinator had been appointed in nearly every Spanish province.

“We have since organised activities all over Spain, in little villages and big cities, establishing agreements with town councils and regional governments,” says Robles del Moral. “We have planted thousands of trees in National Parks, on municipal land and elsewhere,” he adds. “And for the past five months we have broadcast a programme on Spanish public television that provides a platform to present environmental issues to viewers in Spain and South America.”

Mario’s vision may seem overambitious – even far-fetched – but already the Greenway project, initiated just last year with 130 hectares of land in Churriana, Málaga, and five hectares in the Montes de Málaga National Park, is working to develop large-scale reforestation projects in seven Latin American countries.

“With the collaboration of the Spanish Foreign Office, the telecommunications company Telefonica CIA and several other companies, we are advancing with projects in Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina,” Robles del Moral says, “where the need is urgent. The terrible rain damage we hear of in these countries – floods and landslides – is not always due to natural disasters. A lot of the time it is the logical consequence of deforestation.

“And now that global climate change brought about by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is generally acknowledged as the planet’s ‘big problem’, we need to spread the word that reforestation is the best antidote. Not only do trees take in carbon dioxide as they grow and thrive, but forests are crucial to the health of water supplies, the soil and the air we breathe.”